


Dan’s Plants

by amazingdalien



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Anxiety, Depression, First Meetings, Fluff, M/M, but not really, discussions of mental health
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-19
Updated: 2020-01-19
Packaged: 2021-02-27 12:28:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,779
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22317100
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amazingdalien/pseuds/amazingdalien
Summary: Dan owns a plant store. Phil keeps bringing back his dead plants.
Relationships: Dan Howell/Phil Lester
Comments: 8
Kudos: 43





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Trigger warning for the discussions of depression and anxiety. More so depression probably. More notes at the end to avoid spoilers. Please be safe!! 
> 
> Unfortunately all of Phil’s experiences with plants are based on my own experiences with plants. (But I’ve figured it out and my plants are happy now! :)) 
> 
> Basically one long guide to taking care of succulents

Dan jumped in surprise when he heard the little bell above the door ring. The shop closed in half an hour, so he usually didn’t have visitors at this time of the day. He looked up from the plant he was about to repot to see a man walk through the door. Dan immediately noticed how handsome he was. He was very tall, almost as tall as Dan maybe, pale skin and black hair. 

“Welcome to Dan’s Plants! Can I help you find anything or would you rather just look on your own?” Dan tried to seem friendly to sooth the man, who looked slightly nervous. 

“I... Uhhh...” the man trailed off and looked around the shop with wide eyes. “I’m not sure?”

Dan sat down the plant he’d been holding, and walked towards him. “First time?” 

“Yeah.” 

As Dan got closer to the man, he could see a faint blush on his cheeks. “Do you have a certain type of plant in mind?” 

The man shrugged, and shyly mumbled, “I think succulents are pretty.”

Dan smiled brightly at him. “We have loads of succulents! They’re at the back of the store. C’mon, I’ll show you,” he said as he gestured for the man to follow him. 

As they walked, Dan tried to chat with the man to keep them from falling into an awkward silence. “So, what made you decide to get a plant?”

“Oh I... I’m kinda lonely I guess? I’m sorry that sounds so stupid when I say it out loud. I just moved to London a few weeks ago and all my friends and family are hours away. My stupid landlord won’t let me get a dog.” 

Dan glanced over at the man to see him pouting slightly. It was ridiculously adorable. “Yeah, I know the feeling mate. I’ve always wanted a dog.” 

Dan had led him to the back half of the store. The walls were lined with a row of tall windows that provided plenty of light for the plants. Or as much light as they could get in cloudy London. There were three rows of tables completely covered in different plants. 

Dan pointed to the different tables. “These are the succulents. This table in the middle is what most people think of when they think of succulents. The tables by the walls are also succulents but some of them are a little weird.”

Dan watched as the man looked around at all the plants with wide eyes. 

“I didn’t expect there to be so many?” he said uncertainly. 

Dan understood that. He knew fuck all about plants the first time he went to a plant nursery. He looked around for a moment before picking up a small pot from the middle table. 

“This guy is an echeveria. It’s a good first-time plant because it doesn’t need a lot of attention. If you forget to water him he won’t really mind too much.”

The man hesitantly reached for the pot, and looked at the plant curiously before looking back up at Dan. “I like him, he’s pretty. Are you sure I won’t kill it?” 

Dan giggled at the man. He was adorable. “Yeah, mate, he’ll be a pretty hard one to kill.” 

“Okay, I’ll get him,” he said smiling up at Dan. 

As Dan led him back up to the front counter to pay, he was frantically thinking of ways to get the man to stay for a few minutes longer. He’d only just met him, but there was something about him pulling Dan in. He just wanted to get to know him. When they got closer to the counter, Dan saw the plant he’d been about to repot when the man had walked in and had a sudden idea. 

“Do you need a pot? This plant is still small enough that it doesn’t really need repotted, but a new pot would look cooler than this ugly plastic.” 

“Sure, but I don’t really know how.” he said uncertainly.

“That’s okay,” Dan said while pointing in the direction of the shelves full of pots. “Go pick out a pot you like that’s about the same size. I’ll make some room for us on the counter so I can show you.” 

He came back a few minutes later with a brightly colored rainbow pot. Dan’s heart stuttered a little, but he ignored it sure he’s reading too much into it. Just because he picked a rainbow pot doesn’t mean he likes men. 

For the next twenty minutes, Dan patiently explained how to repot the plant. He used the plant he had been working on before so the man could copy what he was doing on his new succulent. He showed him how to gently remove the plant from the pot without pulling on it, and how to loosen the soil around the root ball before placing it in the new pot. The man made a complete mess of the counter and the floor (and himself), but Dan found it hopelessly endearing. 

“Alright, there is a sink right through that door. Go wash your hands, and I’ll get everything ready for you to go.” While the man cleaned up, Dan got a small box the put his plant in, and rang up his plant and pot so it’d be ready when he finished. He decided not to charge him for the pot. He felt kinda bad that he’d talked him into getting something he didn’t really need just so he could keep him there for so long for his own selfish reasons. 

When the man returned from cleaning himself up, he walked up to Dan and immediately held his hand out. “I realized I never even told you my name. I’m Phil.”

Dan grinned and shook the man’s hand. “I’m Dan.” 

Phil started giggling immediately and quickly brought his hand up to cover his mouth. Dan wanted to pull it away so he could see his smile, but he figured that would cross about a hundred different boundaries. 

“I thought you might be Dan.” 

Dan raised his brow, and looked at him questioningly. 

“Dan’s Plants?” 

“Oh right! How embarrassing.” 

Phil giggled again. “Thanks for your help with the succulent. I’m gonna try my best to keep him alive, but no promises,” he said while reaching for his card so he could pay. 

“This guy is impossible to kill. You’ll be fine.” 

Dan finished ringing everything up and handed him his receipt. He thought it would be too much to walk him to the door so he let him go alone, but just before Phil reached the door, he turned back around. 

“It was nice to meet you, Dan.” 

Dan felt his heart stumbling over itself again. “It was nice meeting you too, Phil.” He gave him a small salute, and immediately wished the ground would open up and swallow him. 

Phil giggled again and waved goodbye before turning to actually leave this time. 

As soon as the door closed behind him, Dan let his head drop onto the counter. He couldn’t believe that he’d forgotten that he shared a name with his store. Or that he’d saluted Phil like a fucking weirdo. Resigning himself to the fact that he’d never see the man again, he sighed and grabbed a broom so he could clean up the mess of soil Phil had left behind. 

\--- 

It had been a few weeks since Phil had come in, and Dan couldn’t seem to stop thinking about him. In a moment of creepy weakness, he’d searched for him on Instagram and Twitter, but as it turns out, Phil is a pretty common name, and without a last name to go on, his searches always turned up empty. 

Dan had just decided to close the shop an hour early so he could go back upstairs to his apartment and mope some more when he heard the bell above the door ring. With an internal sigh, he turned around to greet the new customer, but his annoyance quickly turned to excitement when he realized it was Phil who had just walked in. 

He gave him with a large smile. “Back for another? Did the house plant bug get you too? It’s so hard to stop after the firs-“ he abruptly cut himself off when he saw the very sad plant in Phil’s hand and looked up to see an even sadder expression on his face. 

“I killed Luigi! You said I wouldn’t kill him,” he whined. 

Dan had to fight so hard to keep the smile off of his face. This man was just too precious. “Luigi?” 

“They’re both green?” 

Dan snorted. “Alright. C’mon let’s have a look.” 

Phil walked up to the counter and handed Dan the plant. “I don’t know what I did wrong. He was okay at first, then all of his leaves started falling off!” 

Dan picked up the plant to get a closer look. A lot of the lower leaves had fallen off and were laying in the soil, and the many of the remaining leaves were drooping. He thought he knew the problem, but stuck his finger in the soil to be sure. Although that probably wasn’t necessary, the soil was very clearly soaked. 

“How often have you been watering him?”

“Every morning?”

Dan felt his eyes grow wide, but he tried to hide his shock so Phil wouldn’t feel worse. “I think that’s the problem, mate. He probably only needs watered every week or so. Maybe even less than that.” 

Phil huffed. “You said I could go a few days without watering him, but I didn’t know that meant I should go a few days!” he whined miserably. 

“It’s okay, Phil. You didn’t know, I should’ve explained better. I knew it was your first plant. But if it makes you feel better, I’ve killed more plants than I can count.” 

“Really?”

“Yeah for sure. This happens sometimes even when you know what you’re doing. You shouldn’t feel bad.” 

“Thanks that makes me feel better.” He still wasn’t smiling, but he didn’t look quite as upset as he had when he’d walked in so Dan would count this as a win. 

“C’mon let’s get you set up with something new. You can try again.” 

“I don’t know… what if I kill it again?” 

“Then you try again, but I’ll teach you how to check the soil to see if it needs watered this time.” 

“Okay, I guess I can try one more time.” He still seemed hesitant, but he followed Dan back to the succulent section. 

When they reached the succulent tables, Phil looked around but seemed to be waiting for Dan to pick something for him again. 

“I think you should pick one this time.” Dan said to try to encourage him. 

He still looked unsure but he started to walk around slowly looking at the different succulents. He reached for a few different plants, but always pulled away at the last second before actually choosing one. After about five minutes, he settled on a medium sized Crassula. 

“I like this one. He kinda reminds me of an alien a little bit.” 

Dan raised an eye brow but didn’t comment on it. “That’s a Crassula ovata, but he’s sometimes called a jade plant.” 

“I think I want it. Do you think I’ll be able to take care of him?” 

“Yeah, of course, you’re gonna do great this time. Go pick out a pot and meet me up front. I’m gonna grab a few things, and then I’ll teach you how to test his soil to see if he needs water.” 

Dan made his way back to the front of the shop, after stopping at a few tables to grab three different plants. Phil joined him a few minutes later. This time he’d picked a bright blue pot with little puppy faces painted on it. 

Dan once again helped him to repot the plant. He encouraged him to do in on his own, but stepped in to help a few times when he seemed to be having a hard time. Phil got upset when he knocked a few leaves off of the plant, but Dan reassured him that leaves can sometimes fall off quite easily and the plant would be fine. When the finished getting the plant settled into its new home, Dan used the other two plants he’d picked up to show him how to test the soil for water. 

“Okay one of these plants was watered yesterday and one of them was watered about a week ago can you tell which?” he said while pushing two of the plants across the counter toward Phil. 

Phil looked at the two plants for a minute before gesturing towards one. “I think this one was watered yesterday.” 

Dan picked up the plant and set is aside. “Great! Why did you choose that one?” 

“The soil was darker and looked wetter?” 

Dan smiled. “Perfect, so that’s the first thing you can look for. If the soil looks wet, you’ll want to wait to water it. Most plants, but especially succulents, should only be watered when they’re soil is dry or they can lose leaves like your succulent did, or in more extreme cases, their roots can rot.” 

Dan grabbed the third plant, and set it beside the other remaining plant. “Okay now tell me which of these has been watered more recently.” 

Phil looked at the plants for a little longer this time. He even picked up each to get a closer look. “I’m not sure actually.” 

“That’s okay. Sometimes you can’t tell just by looking. This time try sticking a finger in the soil of each pot, and then tell me which one you think needs watered.” 

Phil looked skeptical, but followed Dan’s directions. “Both feel a lot dryer than the other one looks, but I think this one still feels a little wet,” he said while gesturing towards the right plant.

“Perfect, you got it right again! So, the dryer one is how it should feel when it needs water. If you do it a little early or a little late that’s probably okay most of the time, but you want to be sure the soil has really dried out before you give it more water okay?” 

“I think I understand now.” 

Dan was relieved to see that Phil’s mood had turned around. He’d looked miserable when he first came in, but now he looked happy and seemed excited about his new plant. 

“Thank you for helping me again. I’ll try harder to get it right this time.” 

“Watering is tricky. It’s probably the easiest thing to get wrong.” Dan said to reassure him again. 

Phil nodded in response then reached for his wallet. “How much do I owe you? I’m gonna have to start paying for lessons at this rate.” 

Dan laughed a little bit at the thought. He’d sit here the whole day teaching Phil about plants for free if it meant he could spend more time with him. 

“No charge, don’t worry about it. You’re just exchanging plants.” Dan had no idea what he was doing. He never allowed people to exchange plants. 

“You can’t give me a free plant, Dan! Let me pay for it.” 

“You returned this plant so I’ll give you the new one.” 

“But that one’s dead!” 

Dan looked at the plant again. It really did look quite miserable. “Maybe but that’s okay.”

“At least let me pay for the new pot.” 

“Okay fine, I’m not gonna say no if you absolutely insist.” 

Phil looked like he wanted to argue more, but he let it go since Dan was at least letting him pay for the pot. After he paid, Dan got a new box for his plant, and got everything ready for him to take home. 

As Phil was walking toward the door he turned around like he wanted to say something. He opened and closed his mouth a few times before saying, “It was nice to see you again, Dan.” 

Dan felt a smile immediately take over his whole face, and he knew his dimples were making an appearance. “It was good to see you too, Phil.” 

Phil smiled back and gave a little wave before turning to leave. 

After Phil had left, Dan picked up his plant to get a better look at it. He’d really done some damage, but Dan thought he could still save it. He imagined the look on Phil’s face if he ever returned to the store and learned that he hadn’t killed his plant after all. He quickly locked the door to the shop, then grabbed the plant and headed upstairs to see what he could do to save it. 

\--- 

It had only been a few days since Phil had been in the last time, but Dan was already cursing himself for not learning more about him. A last name, a phone number, anything. Dan felt slightly selfish, but he hoped Phil would nearly kill his plant again. He didn’t want to see him so sad again, but he wanted to see him. 

Dan had opened the shop about an hour ago, but he normally didn’t have many customers in the morning. He normally used this time to water the plants, and make sure none of them needed any extra attention, but today he was standing at the front counter biting his nails and letting his thoughts wonder toward Phil. He still barely knew the man but he couldn’t seem to stop thinking about him. He was just so… adorable (and hot). Dan made up his mind that if he saw Phil again he wasn’t letting him leave without asking for his number. 

Dan looked up at the door when he heard the little bell ring, and was shocked to see Phil standing in the doorway. Despite his last thought, he wasn’t expecting to see Phil again so soon, and thought he’d have a few days to work up the courage and decide how to ask. But Phil was here now, and looking quite sad again. 

“Oh no, what happened?” 

“I don’t know what’s wrong! I thought he would enjoy some sunlight since we never get any in London, but he turned brown!” 

He was whining again, but Dan couldn’t help but find it cute. He struggled to keep the smile off of his face. “Alright, bring him here. What’s his name?” 

“He was Alien, but now I think he’s Sad Alien.” 

Dan inspected the plant and quickly confirmed his thoughts. “Well, Phil, I think Sad Alien has a sunburn.” 

“A sunburn! I didn’t know plants could get sunburns, I thought he would like the sun.” 

Dan felt bad again. He’d hoped for this and now Phil was sad. The poor guy just wanted a plant to help him feel less lonely. “I’m sure he loved the sun at first, but when plants aren’t used to it, they need to be acclimated to more sunlight slowly so they don’t burn.” 

Phil looked more and more dejected as Dan explained. 

“It’s okay, Phil, you didn’t know. I’ve burnt one of my first plants for the same reason. I thought it would enjoy sunlight, but it was too much, and it got a sunburn. I was devastated at first, I’ll admit, but I’ve killed plants in much dumber ways since then. It seems to make sense that a plant would want sunlight, yeah? It’s okay you can try again.” 

“I don’t think that’s a good idea. I’ll just kill another one.” 

“And if you do that’s okay, but I don’t think you should give up yet. Just try one more time?” Dan tried to give his most encouraging smile. 

Phil still looked unsure but nodded in agreement. “Fine, but only one more.” 

Dan beamed. “Good, now go pick out a plant, then meet me back here at the counter. I’m gonna go get a pot for you from the backroom.” 

Phil looked confused, but made his way to the succulents anyway. Dan hoped Phil wouldn’t think this was weird, but as soon as he’d seen the pot, he knew he had to get them in case Phil ever came backed. He quickly located the box from his most recent shipment, and grabbed one of the pots from it.

When Dan returned to the counter, Phil was already waiting on him. He looked at the plant Phil had chosen and smiled. No way Phil would kill this one. 

“Good choice, mate.” 

“What is he?” 

“A Pachyphytum.” 

“Like Pac-Man?” 

Dan rolled his eyes, but he knew the look on his face was disgustingly endeared. “You’re gonna name him Pac-Man, now aren’t you?” 

Phil laughed loudly at that. Dan had never seen him laugh like this. So loud and happy with his tongue poking between his teeth. How was this man so precious and so hot at the same time? 

“Yeah, probably. It’s a good name!” 

“Well, he’s not gonna match his pot, but that’s okay,” Dan said while finally holding the pot up for Phil to see. It was white with little Mario mushrooms on it. 

Phil immediately reached for the pot. “That’s so cool! I love it!” 

“I saw it, and thought you might like it.” 

“You got these just because you thought I’d like them?” 

Dan could feel the blush growing on his cheeks. “I… yeah, is that okay? I remembered you named your first plant Luigi, and figured you enjoyed the game”

Phil gave him a soft smile. “Yeah, that’s great, Dan.” 

Dan immediately felt relief flood through him. He hadn’t messed things up. He hadn’t been too weird. 

“Good, c’mon, I’ll help you repot him.” 

They worked much more quickly this time. Dan was happy to see Phil was finally getting the hang of it. He barely had to help at all. 

When it was time to go, Phil tried to pay again. “Please, you can’t just keep giving me free plants!” 

“I’m not giving you free plants, you’re exchanging them.” 

Phil sighed loudly. “Fine, can I please pay for the pot again.” 

Dan hesitated before answering. He didn’t want to be weird, but he’d bought those pots for Phil anyway. “Not this time, mate. Picked out those pots for you, didn’t I? Can’t let you pay for a gift.” 

“A gift?” 

Dan remained firm. “Yeah, a gift.” 

“Okay, I guess. My mum would have my head if she knew I tried to pay for a gift.” 

Dan gave Phil a huge dimpled smile. “Good, she should.” 

Phil left shortly after that. Dan was sad to see him leave again, but he didn’t really have a reason to make him stay. As he walked back to the counter, his eyes landed on the plant Phil had brought back. Sad Alien indeed. This one would be more difficult, but Dan thought he could save it too. Luigi was slowly recovering, but Dan didn’t want to tell Phil yet just in case. With a sigh, he picked up the plant and went upstairs to get to work. 

It wasn’t until several hours later when Dan was crawling into bed that he realized he’d forgotten to get Phil’s number.


	2. Chapter 2

Only a few days had passed, when Phil found himself on his way to Dan’s shop for the fourth time. This time he would return the plant and not get another one. He couldn’t believe he’d messed up again when all he wanted to do was impress Dan. He should’ve been more firm last time, and not gotten another, but he couldn’t resist Dan’s smile. But now he was so embarrassed. He’d tried three times and he couldn’t even keep a single plant alive. 

When he walked through the door, he saw Dan arguing with a customer, and decided to hang back out of the way. He tried not to eavesdrop but the shop was quite small so their voices carried. As soon as he realized what they were arguing about, his embarrassment grew. The man was trying to return a plant because he’d killed it, but Dan wouldn’t budge. He insisted that it wasn’t his fault the man hadn’t been able to take care of his plant. God, he was so stupid. He couldn’t even keep a plant alive so Dan had to change his returns policy because of him. He’d probably never had anyone bring back three different plants before. 

Phil didn’t realize he’d been staring at them until Dan looked up. At first, Dan gave him a large smile, but his eyes flicked back to the man in front of him and his expression faltered slightly. The man followed Dan’s eyes to Phil who gave an awkward wave at being caught. 

“This is ridiculous! It’s dead what am I supposed to do with it?” 

“Throw it away? I don’t care, but you’re not getting your money back or getting a new plant because you couldn’t take care of this one.” 

The man mumbled something under his breath and stormed out. Phil felt absolutely horrible now. Maybe if he hadn’t returned so many plants, that man could have gotten a new one. 

Dan rubbed his hand over his face with a tired sigh. “Hey, Phil. Your plant looks great!” 

Momentarily distracted from the other customer, Phil huffed. “He isn’t great, but I don’t know what’s wrong with him. It was fine yesterday, but when I checked on him this morning, his leaves were all wrinkly. I don’t think I shouldn’t have gotten another one.”

Dan held his hand out for the plant so Phil handed it over. He was even more embarrassed when Dan immediately started giggling. 

“He’s okay, he’s just thirsty. Did you check the soil like I showed you?” 

Just thirsty? So, he hadn’t killed it? “I tried, but I couldn’t tell, and I was afraid to water him too much like before.” 

“That’s okay, sometimes it’s hard to decide if its dry or not. These wrinkles are just his way of saying ‘hey, I’m thirsty. Give me a drink, Dad.’ Water him and he’ll cheer up by tomorrow?” 

“He just needs water? Are you sure I didn’t kill him?” 

“Quite sure. I wouldn’t recommend waiting this long every time, but he’ll be fine. You can water him today, and see how long it takes him to wrinkle again, then water him a day or two sooner next time.” 

Phil felt relief flood through him. He hadn’t killed another plant. He felt stupid that he’d come all the way here and bothered Dan for no reason, but maybe he would be impressed that he’d managed to keep a plant alive this time. Phil looked up suddenly when he realized Dan was speaking to him again. 

“Feel free to say no, but I live right upstairs if you wanna come up. I was about to close the shop for the day anyway. We can get water for Pac-Man and tea for us?” 

Phil felt like his heart was about to beat out of his chest. He couldn’t believe Dan was inviting him back to his apartment. He’d been trying to work up the courage to ask for his number, but he hadn’t been able to. He’d been too afraid Dan wouldn’t be interested, but maybe that wasn’t true. His anxious thoughts were quick to remind him this didn’t mean anything. Sure, Dan was really nice to him and wanted to have tea, but maybe he just wanted to be friends. Phil realized he’d taken a really long time to answer, and he looked at Dan who had a scared expression on his face. 

Phil rushed to reassure him. Even if it was just a friend thing, Phil didn’t want him to feel bad or scared about asking. “That sounds lovely, Dan.” 

Dan immediately let out a breath he’d been holding, and a large grin spread across his face. “Okay, good. Wait here for a minute while I close up.” 

Phil watched Dan walk around the shop for a minute locking the door and turning off lights before making his way back to him. 

“Alright, c’mon.” He watched Dan pick up Pac-Man, and followed him back to the room with the sink where he’d had to clean up his first time here. At the back of the room, there was another door which opened to a set of stairs. 

As they made their way upstairs Dan started talking again. “Sorry it’s kinda messy up here. I don’t really have guests over because there are plants everywhere.” 

“It’s okay, I don’t mind.” 

Despite Dan’s warning, Phil wasn’t expecting quite so many plants. When Phil walked through the door of Dan’s apartment, he saw plants all over the place. There were plants on the floor, and plants crowded around windows, and plants on tables. There were leaves sitting in cups of water and even more leaves leaves in small trays full of soil. Phil loved it. There were so many different shades of greens and so many different patterns. It was beautiful, he didn’t understand why Dan had seemed so embarrassed. 

“I love this, Dan! It’s so beautiful in here!” 

Dan blushed and mumbled a small thanks while gesturing for Phil to follow him through a door on the opposite side of the room. Dan’s kitchen was mostly empty of plants, except for a few on a table near the window. There was a second table along the opposite wall with stacks of empty pots and a few opened bags of soil. Dan walked to the table near the window and set Phil’s plants with the others, then gestured for Phil to sit down while he started their tea. 

Phil looked at the plants on the table while he waited. He didn’t know much about plants obviously, but he quickly realized they were the plants he’d returned. Some of the leaves from the Luigi were laying in a tray of soil, and the plant itself, although much smaller, was planted in a new pot. Sad Alien was also much smaller and missing many of his leaves, but Dan had removed all of the burnt spots, and repotted him in a smaller pot as well. They still looked a bit sad, but they were alive. Dan must work miracles. 

Phil looked up at Dan who was getting mugs from the cupboard. “You saved them?” 

“Yeah, you were so upset. I thought if I could save them you might feel better.” 

Phil was surprised that Dan cared that much about his feelings. He was happy Dan had been able to save him and that he’d wanted to make Phil feel better, but he felt bad that he’d had to put in extra work because of him. 

“Thank you, that means a lot. I’m happy you were able to save them, but I’m sorry you had to do extra work because of me.” His guilt reminded him that Dan had to change his store’s exchange policy too. “And I’m sorry you had to change your exchange policy because of me returning so many plants.” 

He looked up to see Dan smiling softly at him. “It wasn’t too much extra work, I didn’t mind.” His soft smile turned into a smirk. “I also didn’t change my policy because of you. I didn’t change it at all. Cute boys named Phil can return their dying plants, no one else.”

Cute boys named Phil? “Oh.” 

Dan hummed but didn’t say anything. They fell into a silence while Dan finished preparing their tea, but it didn’t feel awkward. Phil actually felt more comfortable with a near stranger than he’d felt in a long time. 

Dan finished their tea, and joined him at the table. “Do you want me to tell you about them?” 

Phil grinned and nodded. “Yeah, of course.” 

So Phil listened to Dan talk about the plants. He explained how each of the leaves in the tray would hopefully turn into a whole new plant, and how he’d cut the soggy roots off of Luigi and stuck him in soil to grow new roots. He said Sad Alien would be fine now that the burnt parts were removed, he just needed a break from the sun and time to recover. 

“You can probably take them home with you if you want. I think they’ll be okay now.”

“I probably shouldn’t. I don’t want to hurt them again. I should leave Pac-Man here too.” 

“Nonsense, plants are hard sometimes. Everyone fucks it up and kills a plant at least once. I already told you I’ve killed too many plants too count.” Dan stopped speaking for a moment before hesitantly adding, “I can help you if you want.” 

“That would be great, Dan, but it’s not like I can bring them back here every day to make sure I’m doing it right.” 

“No, maybe not, but maybe I can give you my number? You can send me pictures of them so I can make sure that they’re healthy, or maybe…” he trailed off uncertainly, “maybe I could come to yours to check on them sometimes.” 

Phil agreed embarrassingly quickly. He handed Dan his phone to put his number in. He must’ve also texted himself because he heard a buzz from Dan’s phone. He couldn’t believe he’d gotten his number finally. He just hoped they were both feeling the same way. 

“So are all these plants up here yours or are they things you’re working on for your shop?” 

“Most of them are my own. I’ve had some of them for years now. Some of the clippings are from the shop, but I took them so I can grow my own. I figure I can steal from myself.”

“Tell me about them.” Phil thought for a second he was being selfish. He just wanted to hear Dan talk about plants more because he looked so happy doing so, but this was what Dan did all day maybe he wanted to talk about something else. But when he looked back up and saw the dimpled grin on Dan’s face, that thought was erased from his mind. 

Dan grabbed his hand and dragged him back to the other room where his plants were. He listened patiently as Dan told him about almost every plant he had. Phil thought he could probably listen to Dan talk about plants all night. He was so passionate about it, it was clear he loved doing this. His whole face lit up when he talked about them. Phil hadn’t thought he could like Dan any more than he already did, but he was even more beautiful when he talked about plants. He didn’t understand some of the things Dan was talking about, things like propagation? and plants having babies? but he didn’t mind. He was happy to just sit and listen. 

“I wish I could find something I love as much as you love plants. You light up when you talk about them.” Phil hoped that wasn’t a weird thing to say. “When did you get your first plant?” 

Dan’s face fell a little bit, and he didn’t answer right away. Phil couldn’t identify the expression on his face, but it wasn’t the happy one he’d had only a moment ago. He wasn’t sure why the question had upset Dan, but it was clear he’d said the wrong thing. 

“Sorry, you don’t have to answer that if you don’t want to.”

Dan waved away his apology. “It’s okay, don’t apologize. No one would expect that to be a bad question. I normally lie about it but I… I don’t want to lie to you.” 

Phil felt like his heart was going to beat out of his chest. How did this man already care about him enough to not lie to him? Especially about something that clearly upset him. 

“Okay you don’t have to lie, but you can tell me another time if you don’t want to talk about it.” 

“No, I wanna tell you just give me a minute.” 

Phil waited patiently for Dan to get his thoughts together and start talking. He still felt bad for asking the question, but if Dan really wanted to tell him now, he’d listen. 

“I have depression. I don’t like telling people because they don’t understand. It just hit me one day out of nowhere. I was fine and then suddenly I couldn’t even make myself get out of bed anymore. Part of me hated that I was just wasting my life away, but most of me didn’t feel anything, didn’t care. One day I thought maybe if I had something to take care of, I’d be able to get out of bed. At first, I thought maybe a dog, or even a cat, but if it went bad I didn’t want to be putting an animal in danger.” 

“So, I made myself go buy a plant. I didn’t know a thing about plants, just picked the first one I saw when I walked into the store. I killed it. The I killed four more. I just couldn’t bring myself to take care of them. When I bought my sixth plant, I set it right beside my bed. I told myself if I’m gonna kill this plant I’m at least gonna watch it die instead of being a coward about it. Surprisingly, that’s what it took for me to start taking care of it. At first, I’d get up for maybe five minutes, that’s all it took really, I’d check on it and water it if it needed, then I’d spend the rest of the day in bed.”

“Eventually, I decided to get another plant. I figured if one plant gets me out of bed for five minutes, maybe two plants will get me out of bed for ten. And it worked. And it kept working so I kept buying more. It got to the point where I was able to convince myself that if I could get out of bed for thirty minutes to take care of plants, then I could stay up to fix a bowl of cereal. If I could stay up for cereal, I could stay up to take a shower.”

“It was a slow process, but eventually it got easier and I got better. I went to therapy, got incredibly lucky with this place… Most days are good days now. I’m doing better.” 

Phil didn’t speak right away when Dan finished. He wanted to take his time, and respond the right way. 

“Thank you for telling me that, Dan. I’m happy you felt like you could trust me.” 

Both men were silent after that. Phil knew what he wanted to say, but he wasn’t sure if he should. 

“I… I have pretty bad anxiety some days. Most days actually. It’s hard for me to leave my house sometimes so I work from home when I can. My work compromised with me. If I moved to London, they’d let me work from home as much as possible. It’s unbearably lonely most days, and I miss my family. That’s why I got my first plant. I know I kinda already told you, but I held some of the truth back.” 

Phil had one more thing to say but he was scared. He looked up to see Dan already looking at him. They held eye contact for a long moment, and it gave Phil the courage to say what he needed. 

“Coming here to buy plants doesn’t make me anxious. I know I barely know you, Dan, but you make me feel less lonely.” 

Dan reached for his hand. “You don’t have to be lonely anymore, if you don’t want. I’ll be here for you as long as you want me around.” 

Phil smiled. “I’d love that, actually.” 

He stayed until late in the night. They spent hours talking, and learned that they actually have a lot in common. They play a lot of the same video games and they both love anime. They talked for hours until Phil couldn’t control his yawns anymore. Dan insisted on paying for an uber for him to get home, and walked Phil downstairs to wait for it with him. 

After Phil was settled into the car with all three of his plants, he looked back to Dan and said, “I’ll text you soon.” 

Dan grinned. “Can’t wait, mate.” 

\---

The next day Dan woke up with four messages from Phil. 

The first was a picture of Phil’s plants sitting on a small table near a window. 

From Phil: Maybe you could come over after you close today to check on the plants 

From Phil: Ya know just in case 

From Phil: We can order take out :)

**Author's Note:**

> In the next chapter, Dan talks about his struggles to get out of bed and to take care of himself due to depression. Phil talks about his inability to leave his house at times due to anxiety.


End file.
